Technologies and e-commerce development in Asia digest 15/02

E-commerce

Southeast Asia’s ecommerce startups thrive under giant marketplaces’ long shadow. Lazada is expanding the suite of tools for merchants to include fulfillment, store design, and local language translation.

Technology

China’s Tencent Has Quietly Built An Entertainment Empire That Western Tech Giants Can Only Envy. Tencent is best known as the operator of WeChat, an instant-messaging app with 963 million users that also offers services such as shopping, payment and online food delivery. But in recent years the company has built a media and entertainment empire encompassing music, film and television shows. By middle 2018, the series can probably bring Tencent 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in book, IP and gaming sales.

Fintech

Alibaba to take $486 mln stake in China retailChina’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will invest $486 million for a stake in a domestic big- data firm focused on hotels and retail